Authorities charge man with cocaine possession

Federal authorities have charged a man with possession of more than 16.5 pounds of cocaine on Interstate 40 in Carson County.

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper stopped John Curtis Griffin, who was driving a 2004 Ford F-150 pickup, for failing to signal a lane change on Sunday and found the cocaine, according to a federal criminal complaint.

During the stop, the trooper learned Griffin had a prior conviction involving cocaine, the complaint said. The trooper asked to search the pickup, but Griffin denied consent, the complaint said.

A drug-sniffing dog alerted the trooper to 12 bundles of cocaine in the pickup’s side steps, the complaint said.